Coronavirus: Markets tumble, jobs risks and why more Dublin restaurants will close

Stock markets have been in sharp decline since the spread of coronavirus, with yesterday's plunges in London and New York the worst seen since October 1987.

Joe Brennan reports on Thursday’s sea of red, as European shares plummeted to their biggest ever slump, Dublin’s Iseq fell 9.9 per cent and Wall Street was so volatile, it yet again triggered a 15-minute trading suspension.

In Agenda, Joe examines in depth the dramatic fallout on stock markets in recent weeks as governments and central banks struggle to catch up with the fast-spreading coronavirus.

Elsewhere in our financial coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, Ciara O'Brien reports on outages at mobile networks following Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's address to the nation, Peter Hamilton writes about forthcoming European Investment Bank measures that might help small businesses cope with the crisis, while Cliff Taylor analyses what the latest developments mean for the Irish economy.

Cliff Taylor: Sudden, sharp decline in activity will have severe impact

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Irish companies and university researchers awarded €7m in EU funding

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UPS shedding 150 staff at Dublin accounting centre

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Coronavirus: Airline crises, Cheltenham gels, Australian plummets and Olympic wobbles

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In other news, Eoin Burke-Kennedy details the latest movements on house prices and also reports on a new study on the cost of constructing homes in the State by investors' lobby group IIP that claims it costs ¤463,000 to build a two-bedroom apartment in Dublin.

Meanwhile, multinational delivery company UPS is to shed 150 employees in Dublin at its global accounting centre, reports Peter Hamilton.

This is a tough time for many restaurateurs. Our Business Interview is with Derry and Sallyanne Clarke, who talk about moving on from l'Ecrivain on Dublin's Baggot Street to a new venture in Temple Bar and why they expect more restaurants in the city will close their doors.

In Caveat, Mark Paul writes about Dermot Desmond's property manifesto and asks why powerful people with the most to say on national issues are often among those least open to robust scrutiny of their positions.

In our Work section, business coach Neil O'Brien tells Olive Keogh why successful workplace teams must be more than just a group of people lumped together. Individual workers should be given the freedom to do more than "role play in a narrowly defined team structure", he explains.

Finally, in Brexit Proof, Francess McDonnell talks to Richard Hogg of Co Antrim precast concrete company Machete Ireland, which has worked on the development of some of the UK's biggest sports stadiums in recent years, including Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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